Ernests Gulbis on Rotterdam: 'I like that the marijuana here is legal'

When Ernests Gulbis is winning matches, he gets interviews. When he gets interviews, entertaining things usually happen.

Spoiler alert: Gulbis won a match in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Entertaining things happened.

After beating Robin Haase on Tuesday at the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament to earn his first ATP Tour match victory since October, Gulbis was asked what he enjoyed about the city of Rotterdam.

"I like that the marijuana here is legal," he told the tournament website, laughing. "I'm for that. Unfortunately, tennis players cannot do that. We get checked every week. But I like the way of thinking." (Marijuana is illegal but tolerated in the Netherlands.)

The 24-year-old Latvian skipped the Australian Open (he would have needed to qualify) to stay in Europe to train for an extra month. Gulbis, whose ranking of No. 132 is a far cry from his career high of No. 21 in 2011, says he's confident he can crack the top 20 this year. Why so confident? He's in the midst of a lifestyle change that includes quitting smoking.

"Smoking, drinking, staying up late," Gulbis said with a smirk when asked to list what vices he's given up. "Practicing more. So it's coming together."